MARKET - Business in a VUCA World

Understanding Change and How AGILE Became Significant

The year was 2011. My youngest son was in military training. He began to use a term that was unfamiliar to me - VUCA, to describe modern battlefield scenarios. Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous certainly described the future I forsaw in business. That year, I read 'Warrior' literature to understand this subject matter. I became impressed that VUCA described situations well beyond those encountered on a military battlefield.

In June 2012, a colleague of mine attended a leadership conference in California and met Bob Johansen the author of 'Leaders Make the Future'. Once again I encountered the term VUCA, but this time in the context of the emerging future of business. It was June 2012, and I was convinced to add Bob's book to the Leadership Library and make VUCA part of the Urban Animal Conversation. 

In 2014, the Leaders Library featured 'Crazy Is a Compliment: The Power of Zigging When Everyone Else Zags', by Linda Rottenberg. It suggested being nimble, adaptive and daring. In 2015, InfoStream published an editorial by James Manyika, Director of the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) that showed how Four Forces are Upending Everything. This article is one of many that InfoStream has published to show 'change' as a constant and AGILE emerging as the management response. Earlier this fall, InfoStream published an IBM executive report on Accidental Agitators. Although focused on the transportation sector, it showed that disrupters often originated outside the sector.

Now in December of 2017, if I am surprised by anything, it is that VUCA and an AGILE response are not more well embraced or even understood by senior management. As we move into 2018, InfoStream will illuminate this story for the benefit of Urban Animals and those who serve them. In the meantime, here is a video that will introduce you to VUCA.